


On Stability (Or the Lack Thereof)

by Flamingbluepanda



Series: On the (Not So) Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Character Study, Fluff, Introspection, M/M, Nile is a curious bean, Question and Answers, angst? maybe?, joe is soft, who loves her sudden dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:53:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25720144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamingbluepanda/pseuds/Flamingbluepanda
Summary: On a Stakeout, Joe and Nile discuss Coping, Life, Pineapples, and The Concept Of Home
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: On the (Not So) Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877365
Comments: 26
Kudos: 494





	On Stability (Or the Lack Thereof)

**Author's Note:**

> This..... Exists? This movie is keeping me sane during the last week of this class I'm taking and I'm a complete mess
> 
> I love Joe. I love Nile. That is all.
> 
> Dedicated to Marwan Kenzari, the singular reason that I've watched the 2019 aladdin movie. Marwan, please toss me off a roof.

Nile is observant. She always has been, scarily so. It made her an excellent marine, and it makes her a fairly good immortal too. 

She notices that Andy loves sweets and hates pork. She notices that Joe keeps a sketchbook on his person at all times. She notices that Nicky still prays often, that Andy will turn to the place where she’s sure the booker should be, ready to say something funny. She notices Joe’s roaring laugh and Andy’s quiet sense of humor. She notices Nicky’s smiles- happy because of joe, sad because of the world- and Joe’s frowns- upset at Nicky, upset  _ because  _ of Nicky, upset because his pencil broke. 

Most of all, she notices that while people might see Andy’s gruff exterior or Nicky’s quiet contemplation as ways to hide their true selves, it’s actually Joe who rarely talks about himself. Andy will gladly rant and ramble about the world as it was, Nicky will talk about Italy and food and places he’s been, and Joe will patiently redirect the conversation back to Nicky each time. 

Nile is curious to a fault, and she cares quite a lot about Joe. He isn’t cold or cruel- Joe is  _ funny,  _ and kind, and talented and he has hour-long conversations with Nile about art and football (American and European) and patiently helps her talk through her nightmares even as he ushers Nicky back to bed.

She considers asking Nicky or Andy about him, but decides that’s unfair. She knows that if she asked, he’d probably just tell her.

But she cares quite a lot about Joe. And, stupidly, she’s nervous to ask. He doesn’t owe her anything, none of them do. She’s new, she’s inexperienced, there are bigger issues to worry about.

Like, for example, the terrorists currently holding a group of doctors hostage. 

They’re in Serbia, a small bunker in the middle of nowhere, waiting for movement inside. They’ve been staking out the place for three days- Andy wants to just bust in, but each time she mentions it Joe and Nicky remind her of the last time they busted into a bunker without thinking it through. 

The terrorists made it clear that if the military was spotted within ten miles of them, they’d start killing people. Copley had sent them in. 

Joe and Nicky were on the ground in a flipped over truck that had been there for years. Nicky had found a good vantage point above-  _ nothing  _ had shocked Nile more than learning that Nicky was a sniper- and Andy was coordinating with military even further back than Nile and Joe. As soon as they saw a way in, Joe and Nile were to take it while Nicky watched. Andy would join with backup when needed.

In other words, hours of  _ nada  _ interspersed with quick check-ins to mark the time.

So far, she and Joe had played 32 games of I-Spy (“I spy with my little eye something green.” “Is it the truck by the bunker? Joe you can’t pick the same thing every time”) 4 games of chess (“that can’t be a legal chess move! You can’t just switch the rook and the king!” “Excuse you, who was alive when chess was popular?”) and too many variations on the alphabet game for Nile to count. (“I’m going around the world and I’m taking Andy’s Axe, Books, Copley’s Cell, dinner for Nicky, aaaaand an eggplant.” “Why?” “My brother’s allergic. I’ve never eaten one before, figure now’s as good a time as any.”) Nicky calls to check in again, this time in German. Nile responds shakily, with Joe gently correcting her pronunciation and grammar. Languages are, apparently, a requirement for immortal life. Nile has taken to them well enough, but the process was agonizingly slow.

After Nicky hangs up, Joe sighs and leans back against his rock, checking his binoculars one more time before sighing again, deeper and more bored. 

Nile swallows, and then asks “so, what’s your name?”

Joe gave her a look “did you hit your head when I wasn’t looking?”

“No, I just mean- I know Andy’s full name and I know Nicky was Nicolo- I’m  _ assuming  _ the Sebastien I’ve heard about is Booker. I don’t know yours.”

“Oh.” Joe blinks, then shrugs. “Yusuf ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Kaysani, called al-Tayyib.”

Nile blinks at the long name, and Joe smirks. “You can see why I stick with Joe. There should also be a Di Genova in there somewhere since me and Nicky are married.” 

“Are you?” Nile asks, and Joe nods excitedly. “Yes, many times. Most of them are non legally binding, but we never needed a judge to decide our love was real.” 

Nile grins, shifting in her seat. “Best and worst weddings, go.” 

“Oh, I can’t possibly pick the best!” Joe laughs, leaning back and smiling dreamily. “Mm. Is it too cliche to say the first? We were on what you would probably call our first date and my lovely Nicky just full-on stopped outside a church and told me he’d give up his faith for me if that’s what I chose. We had a stern conversation about how he wouldn’t be giving up anything for me, because love is about gain. Then he jokingly recited the wedding vows, and I very seriously repeated them back and-“

“I don’t think that counts,” Nile says, bemused. Joe grins at her “ah, but you see at this point my Nicky was still considered a priest, so  _ technically  _ I  _ was  _ married by one. On the steps of the house of God no less!” 

“I still say it doesn’t count. Getting married on a first date is a terrible idea, Joe, didn’t you see frozen?” 

Joe laughs loud enough that Nile worries about their cover and checks her scope again. No movement. She’s starting to wonder if they’re actually in there.

“It wasn’t a first date like you’re thinking of,” Joe explains. “It took almost a year for me and Nicolo to stop killing each other while we were traveling together, and several years after that for us to realize we cared about one another at all. Factor in how long it took us to admit it and the fact that we had to be very careful in public… Nicky took about 60 years to start courting me.” 

_ “Nicky  _ did the courting?” Nile asks, eyes light. “Of course he did. A true renaissance gentleman, our Nicky.” 

“He is,” Joe agrees. “Of course I did my fair share. Gifts, paintings, the whole thing.”

“No meet the parents though,” Nile asks this carefully, acutely aware of the ache she gets when she thinks about her own family. Joe grows quiet, and Nicky winces. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-“

“My brother,” Joe says carefully, suddenly interested in his cuticles, “he would’ve liked Nicky, I think. We were very close, the two of us, and he and Nicky would have had similar senses of humor.” 

He looks back up at Nile, grinning a little “Not that I could’ve ever taken him home. For one thing, I was engaged when I left and for another Nicky is a man and worse- a _Genovan_ _ catholic.” _

Nile laughs, then tilts her head “you were engaged?”

“Ah, yes. Once upon a time, a very long time ago. I ran away to join the war before I met her.” 

“Arranged?”

“Yep,” Joe says, popping the p. “That’s how it was done back then. There was a bride price and everything. I left it all behind, my family, the girl, all of it.”

“Did you ever regret it?” Nile asks, and Joe looks contemplative for a moment before shrugging. “Once or twice, I suppose. In the early days. I missed my family. But I also found much better things after.”

“You mean Nicky,” Nile says, nodding, and without even twitching Joe says “actually I meant pineapple but Nicky  _ is  _ an added bonus.” 

Nile laughs so hard she falls over, and Joe shushes her between his own chuckles. 

“We’re gonna get ourselves  _ shot.”  _ Nile giggles breathlessly, and Joe grins broadly “ah, but what a way to go!” 

“Pineapple? Really?”

“I  _ love  _ pineapple. It’s my favorite fruit.” Joe said seriously, and Nile hummed, rolling so she was laying on her back. 

“Did you ever go visit? Your home I mean. I’m sure they have pineapple there now.”

“I’m sure,” Joe chuckles, then sighs. “No, I haven’t. I don’t really want to I guess? You know how it is in this region- war-torn and disputed, it’s not like anything I know would still be standing.”

Nile hums, nodding. She stares up at the sky- so many stars. Without the light of a city, she could see just about everything.

“Does it ever bug you?” She asks, thinking of black lives matter protests and girls teasing her about her hair. “Ignorance? I mean, all these years, you must’ve heard it all.”

“Oh yes,” Joe sighs, not without a touch of bitterness. “We had to cross the border to Mexico after 9/11. I avoided America for a solid decade after that.”

“How do you deal?”

“I stopped caring. My color, my love, my opinions- it’ll always piss someone off.”

“No,” Nile says, throat suddenly tight. “With all this. Not dying.” 

A warm hand comes to rest on her shoulder, and she looks to see Joe smiling softly down at her. 

"Practice,” he explains softly. “And time. But I can’t just give you mine- it’s different for everyone. Nicky has his faith, Andy has her anger, Booker has his booze, and I have-“

“Your hedonist atheism?” Nile’s voice is teasing, and Joe smirks down at her. “I’ll have you know me and Allah are on perfectly good terms, thank you very much.”

Nile snorts and Joe’s smile becomes kind again. “You’ll find your way, Nile. You already deal  _ way  _ better than I did when I was first immortal.”

“Because I don’t repeatedly murder my husband?”

“Correct.”

Nile laughs again, and then someone throws a grenade at them and the conversation ends when they die.

Nile wakes up when the hostages are safe, finds Nicky sitting with Joe’s head against his chest and Joe’s leg still blown off.

“Ow,” Nile groans, and Nicky nods. “Yeah, looks painful.”

“We got distracted,” Joe sighs. “I was telling her how much I prefer pineapples to you.”

“Oh?” Nicky kisses Joe’s curls, smiling sweetly. “That’s fair, I would leave Joe for… well, I can’t think of anything right now, but I’m sure there’s something.”

Joe hums happily, snuggling closer and wincing when it jostles his leg. He opens his eyes to look at Nile.

“I haven’t forgotten where I come from,” He says, smiling a bit dreamily. “I draw it. Every few years. I’ll show you sometime.”

Nile smiles back at him. “I’d like that.”

“Besides,” Joe yawns, “I’ve got a new home now. You guys,” He waves a hand around, “Nicky. Saving people.”

“How can you sleep with your leg like that?” Nile asks, bemused.

“Don’t even feel it,” Joe sighs, “actually, I think its the damaged nerves. Might be bleeding out, actually.”

Nicky presses a long kiss to his head, watching the blood pool under Joe. “I’ve got you,  _ amore.” _

Joe sighs, and dies there against Nicky’s chest.

“Does it hurt?” Nile asks, “watching him die?”

“Every time,” Nicky sighs. “But I know he won’t leave me. We go together, simple as that.”

Together, they watch over their family. 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is www.flamingbluepanda.tumblr.com
> 
> Love you all! Bye!


End file.
